London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A Group of schoolchildren have beaten off developers who wanted to dig a mega-basement under a property next to their classrooms.

Nearly 100 primary children convinced planners to turn down the scheme after they stood outside Camden town hall chanting: “Education, not excavation.”

The 11-year-old girls from St Christopher’s School, Hampstead, protested to stop developers demolishing a Seventies two-bedroom bungalow and replacing it with a three-bedroom house, with a swimming pool, gym and sunken courtyard.

The nearby Marie Curie Hospice also wrote to the council about its fears for the effect on its cancer patients.

The girls said they were concerned that dust and noise from the building work would interrupt their science lessons because their laboratory block is just a metre away from the proposed building site. And they recruited the help of one parent, a leading international lawyer.

She said: “Any replacement building should enhance the conservation area to a greater extent than the existing building. That is the test that has to be applied.” Another parent, Jackie Orlick, said she was delighted the girls’ protests had persuaded the council to turn down the plan.

She said: “This was the only way the girls could make their voices heard. We are always being told about young people being disengaged from the political process, so it was great that they came here [the town hall] and engaged with what is going on in their community and had their say.”

Local councillor Chris Knight said: “I’m absolutely delighted for the children. It has given them an insight into local politics.”

The plans were submitted through an agent’s company, Lyndhurst Gardens LLP, which was set up by local firm Vabel with developer Adam Hudaly.

Vabel said it had “worked hard to ensure our proposals respect and protect the neighbouring school environment”.

The committee turned down the application, which was recommended for refusal by officers, because it did not enhance the conservation area.

Vabel director Daniel Baliti declined to say who their client was and said the firm was “considering its position”.